Module manager: Dr David Pattinson
Email: d.pattinson@leeds.ac.uk
Taught: Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) View Timetable
Year running 2025/26
This module is not approved as a discovery module
Humans around the world have responded in a wide variety of cultural forms to the environment in which they live, whether as expressions of what that environment means in their own society and lives, or what is thought of as the best way to live in that environment, including how to respond to challenges both natural and generated by human behaviour. In our own time, in order to tackle the array of environmental crises which threaten the viability of human societies around the world, people rightly turn to scientists who study the physical environment to gain a fuller understanding of these threats and how they might be addressed. However, cultural forms usually identified with the Humanities frequently play a crucial role in how these threats are perceived, experienced and presented, and how solutions to them are proposed, argued for, and lived out. These responses are commonly conditioned by historical and cultural contexts, and relative position in webs of power relations including, but not limited to, gender, race, ethnicity, class, language and technology. In this module, students will examine and reflect upon some of the many ways in which humanity has responded culturally to the environment in which it lives, with an emphasis on comparisons across cultures around the world, across different cultural forms, and some historical comparison. This could include literature, film, performing arts, visual arts, activist and corporate responses in culture, and religious/spiritual expressions. Please note this is an optional module and runs subject to enrolments. If a low number of students choose this module, then the module may not run and you may be asked to choose another module.
This module explores ways in which humans have responded, and are responding, to the environment in which they live through diverse forms of cultural expression. It aims to:
- Introduce students to the concept of Environmental Humanities and its importance in global understandings, practices and debates about humanity’s relationship with the environment in which it lives;
- Introduce students to a range of genres through which cultural responses to the environment have been expressed;
- Stimulate critical awareness of how these responses have varied across geographical regions and cultures around the world, as well as across time;
- Enhance students’ understanding of how factors such as lived environmental context, ethnicity, race, gender, class, language and technology can influence cultural responses to the environment;
- Introduce students to some ways of thinking about aspects of the Environmental Humanities from a theoretical point of view.
On successful completion of the module students will have demonstrated the following learning outcomes relevant to the subject:
1- Articulate why and how Environmental Humanities contributes to our understanding of the world in which we live;
2- Compare and analyse how different societies use or have used different cultural forms that express human conceptions of and concerns about the environment;
3- Appraise factors which may condition cultural responses to the environment, and how they have influenced, or been marginalised in, fields which constitute the Environmental Humanities;
4- Evaluate methodologies used to analyse fields within the Environmental Humanities;
Skills Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of the module students will have demonstrated the following skills learning outcomes:
5- Demonstrate critical thinking by gathering source material and evaluating its accuracy and relevance;
6- Communicate ideas accurately and effectively.
Details of the syllabus will be provided on the Minerva organisation (or equivalent) for the module.
| Delivery type | Number | Length hours | Student hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lecture | 11 | 1 | 11 |
| Seminar | 6 | 1 | 6 |
| Private study hours | 183 | ||
| Total Contact hours | 17 | ||
| Total hours (100hr per 10 credits) | 200 | ||
This will mostly happen through class activities, but students will be given the opportunity to submit short reflections on some of the themes discussed to Minerva before they write their final reflective essay.
| Assessment type | Notes | % of formal assessment |
|---|---|---|
| Coursework | Essay | 50 |
| Coursework | Reflective essay | 50 |
| Total percentage (Assessment Coursework) | 100 | |
Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated
The reading list is available from the Library website
Last updated: 30/04/2025
Errors, omissions, failed links etc should be notified to the Catalogue Team